Volume 6 – Chapter 11 – Part 3 – Balance Break and a Farewell

Jin Skyward's Soliloquy

…

I was forced to enter a different dimension, though I let it happen since I was confident in the girl's abilities. I created distance between me and the three people with me, and when I used [Observe] on them, I saw that two of them were devils—more specifically, they were Artificially created Super Devils. The other was one of the Ueboros, rank 3, Sekudia.

Sekudia had mainly black hair with a few red highlights. He had yellow eyes and wore a white suit. He had a black jacket on his back, acting like a cape. He wore golden-colored glasses and brown gloves on both hands.

The two devils were females. The one on the right was called Severa and the one on the right was called Imperia.

Severa was a woman with long black hair, red eyes, small white horns on her head, and she wore a black and red obi with brown sandals.

Imperia had long straight red hair, long brown horns, light pink eyes, and wore a black nun's outfit. She had a small golden belt around her waist and she wore black boots.

"Play with us for a little bit, Mid-kun~" said Severa.

"Yeah, yeah, play with us!" said Imperia.

Meanwhile, Sekudia, rank 3 of the Ueboros said nothing as he stared at me blankly.

"Humor me, why target me?" I asked.

"We're just meant to waste your time~" answered Severa.

"We're not meant to tell him yet!" snapped Imperia.

"Ah! My bad! Forget about that! We want to fight you!" Severa corrected herself and playfully hit her head with her hand and added a 'teehee' at the end.

Waste my time, huh? So they had something else planned for tonight…this… we were in a different part of the Dimensional Gap. They sure have balls in coming here, I could sense some of my subordinates in the distance.

'Leave this to me,' I told them and they vanished. "I'll humor you then. Your plans won't succeed, so it won't matter to me. I already made enough contingency plans for whatever happens in the future, and if not—I'll brute force my way through it."

Sekudia clicked his fingers and he disappeared. I ducked and felt someone's leg pass over me. When I glanced back, he was there. Again he clicked his fingers and he appeared at his previous spot again.

"His ability is cool, right? But it's only one of them! I want that too you know?! Damn it!" complained Severa. "Well, whatever, check it!" she said, and several red threads appeared all around me.

They then quickly approached me and I swiped my hands sideways dismissing them.

"Hey that's cheating!" she shouted in frustration.

Imperia's eyes suddenly glowed and I moved my head to the side. I felt a small breeze past and then several more invisible attacks were sent my way and I dodged them all.

"Heee, so you can keep up with that, huh?" she asked.

I didn't answer and fired a small ball of magic at them. Both devils dodged, though I didn't put much power or speed into it. However, Sekudia didn't dodge, but the attack I sent was quickly sent back to me to my surprise. I caught it and threw it back at him; however, it was deflected back to me again. He hadn't moved the entire time, so it wasn't speed. I dismissed the attack and sighed.

'They have interesting abilities. Maybe I should turn all three into Electas? They could also provide me with more information too…' I thought and stretched my body. "Alright, I decided," I said and pointed at them.

'Cúntóir, can you tell me their abilities?' I asked her.

Cúntóir: Answer: Sekudia has two unique abilities to him. He can move at the speed of sound; he activates this by clicking his fingers or tongue. It's called [Sonic Impulse], and his other is [Absolute Territory]. He has a small invisible barrier around him that is constantly activated. Anything that touches it will be deflected back or completely cancelled out.

'So close-quarters combat is suicidal for the average opponent, huh?' I concluded and glanced back at Sekudia.

Cúntóir: Answer: The two Super Devils aren't too special. Severa has blood manipulation and she uses them like steel wires or threads, so she fights like Sharon. She also has the usual abilities that a devil has. Imperia has [Invisible Eye Blast] as you can tell, she can attack her opponents from a distance by blasting them with invisible demonic energy.

'Easy to defeat them, their overall power is probably why they're arrogant—they were born as super devils after all,' I thought and avoided several attacks from the two devils again. Meanwhile, Sekudia simply stood there and watched. He must think he's invincible or something. Those two abilities are quite powerful after all.

"Come on, fight back!" asked Severa.

"I could use the training with it…" I muttered and summoned the Sacred Gear [Demon Armor: Incursio].

"Eh? What's that?" asked Imperia

"Incursio," I muttered.

…

Third Person Point of View

…

"Hora, hora, hora~! Come on Tobi-kun! Keep it up~!" shouted Dorothy as she continued to launch magic attacks at Tobio and Gin.

Tobio and Gin ran and dodged the attacks that were aimed at them. Occasionally they would slice the attack apart and try to attack Dorothy, but each and every time she would disappear confusing them.

'This can't be just her speed alone, it has to be something else, perhaps a new ability she gained while with the Khaos Order?' thought Tobio.

"Fufu, you're confused, aren't you? Well, I won't tell you~! Keep guessing!" she exclaimed enthusiastically.

Tobio glanced at Gin before both of them dissolved into the shadows. Dorothy didn't seem to care as she stayed in the same spot humming. Multiple Gin's started attacking her and several hundred swords made out of darkness appeared around her and flew towards her.

Dorothy summoned a wand and waved it. Magic circles appeared all around her and blocked some of them, but she was forced to move as she would have been hit. Tobio appeared at the spot she moved to.

He and Gin had carefully planned for her to go to that spot where Tobio waited. Once she was there, Tobio with his scythe swung it down at her. However, to his shock and horror—her face suddenly appeared on the back of her head and he winked at him.

A large white spear pierced Tobio, but he then dispersed into darkness. Tobio reappeared on the ground beside Gin. He stared at Dorothy, unsure of what he had just seen.

"Shocked, are we? Fufu, don't worry, Tobi-kun. As a result of our journey to the Phantasma world, we all obtained new powers, and some of us might not even know exactly how they work, you know?" said Dorothy.

From her back, a monster suddenly came out—the cracking of bones and ripping of flesh was heard by both Tobio and Gin. When the monster finally came out, it was a giant crow with a strange symbol in its eye. It resembled the letter 'Y' on it too.

Tobio and Gin suddenly melted back into the shadows as hundreds of black feathers suddenly shot at them from behind. One hit Tobio in the shoulder, but it didn't do any damage. They appeared on top of a building and he sighed that he wasn't hurt. However, he concluded that he may be facing a True Satan-class or God-class being.

<<This will be a long fight, Gin. But let's keep at it, alright?>>

Gin happily barked at Tobio and hundreds more of Gin started to appear all around them. They then summoned blades and other tools in their mouths and started to attack both Dorothy and the giant crow.

Dorothy dodged and killed the Gin clones, while the crow seemed unaffected by the attacks being dealt to it. Tobio and Gin watched on and analyzed the situation. Dorothy in the meantime started to hum loudly, and the air around them started to vibrate.

Again, both Tobio and Gin jumped from their spots as they felt an attack coming their way. When they looked back, they saw a giant tentacle of a squid had flattened the building they were on.

'We can't let this delay us any further. I have to go get Sae…!' thought Tobio and landed on another building. He focused his attention on Dorothy and dashed towards her. He summoned several blades from the shadows around her and attacked her.

Dorothy again deflected them all, but Tobio got through her other defenses and slashed his scythe at her. Dorothy thought she had dodged the attack but… a small gash appeared on her shoulder and she moaned quite loudly.

"Aaaaahnnn~ that's it, Tobi-kun! Hurt me more! Love me more~!" she screamed in ecstasy.

To Dorothy, when she first saw Tobio Ikuse four years ago, it was love at first sight. But she detested the fact that there were multiple women around him, and even worse, that he only had eyes for one in that group—his childhood friend Sae Toujou.

So back then, she tried to break them apart along with the others of the Wizards of Oz for her own selfishness. But in the end, it all came crumbling down—but at the same time she was happy because she was killed by her beloved Tobio Ikuse. But she was now back and wanted him for herself. She would even kill his fiancé if she needed to, but would use Sae as a bargaining tool for Tobio if necessary.

Dorothy had a normal childhood. She was born a normal human girl to two normal human parents. However, she was a bit different from other kids her age. She saw the world differently, she was much more intelligent than her peers, so that isolated her during her childhood. This continued into middle school and high school.

She graduated both with no friends, and her parents became concerned, and even had her evaluated by her doctors. However, they found nothing wrong with her—so… her parents gave up on her. They started trying to get another child, and they were successful a few months later.

They didn't treat Dorothy any differently, but they started giving all the proper love and care to their new son. They would give them his undivided attention, and give him the world, while Dorothy could live her life how she wanted and they would provide her with whatever she wanted.

But in the end, Dorothy saw no need for it, and set out for herself. She tried to live her own life—and eventually found someone she 'loved', but her love for that person was too much, and he eventually got a restraining order against her. This broke her and made her sad—but during that time, she was found by Oz, the leader of the Wizards of Oz.

After that fateful meeting, she was brought in by Oz, tutored and she bloomed as a magician and witch. She started learning alchemy, and two years later, she sought out the boy that got a restraining order against her—kidnapped him and… 'Loved' him.

His head is now proudly displayed in her room—forever preserved in a jar, like the day she was reunited with him. However, a few years passed and her love for that boy slowly dwindled, but not fully. That was until Tobio Ikuse came into the picture. He was the new upcoming 'Slash Dog', the wielder of [Canis Lykaon] one of the original 13 Longinus.

Back then he was naïve, inexperienced and still had a lot to learn, but… that didn't matter to her—again, it was love at first sight for Dorothy, but in the end, the Slash/Dog Team defeated her and her organization and that was the end of them… or so it seemed.

Suddenly, one day, she woke up again. She was then told that she and many other groups of the past had been revived by a terrorist organization called the Khaos Brigade, and they planned on conquering the world, but that evolved into conquering the multiverse.

She didn't care for any of that, but would take any opportunity to get stronger so she could be with her one true love, Tobio Ikuse. Her obsession became even more intense when she found out that Sae Toujou and Tobio Ikuse had officially become a couple—it became even worse when she found out that Sae Toujou was pregnant.

Dorothy at the time destroyed everything around her. She became insanely jealous, and vowed to do anything to get his attention, but it wouldn't be too long for such an occasion to arrive. The Halloween operation was when she would strike again—the long-awaited reunion with her one true beloved.

"Tobi-kun! Tobi-kun! Tobi-kuuuuuuuuun!!" she screamed and threw several elemental attacks at Tobio and Gin. The two of them dodged the attacks, but the ground beneath them was destroyed. "Leave Sae Toujou and be with me! I'll give birth to as many children as you want!" she shouted at him.

<<…I refuse. Sae is the only one I love!>> Tobio shouted back at her with fervor. <<Please forget about me and move on with your life and get help!>>

Tobio slashed at Dorothy with his scythe which created a powerful shockwave made of darkness. Dorothy countered with her own magic and the crow shot blades of wind at it too. As the attacks were about to explode, Dorothy's attacks suddenly became petrified and flames were shot at her.

"Tobio!" shouted Sae. She had escaped and were followed by four shadows.

<<Sae!>> Tobio shouted and ran towards her. The two shared a quick embrace and then faced Dorothy who became even more furious.

"How, how, how, how, how, how?! You were meant to be…! You filthy shadows! It's always the Middleman that filthy waste of space!" she shouted in rage. Dorothy then launched more magical spells at them, however, they were destroyed by Nattsu's roar which petrified them, rendering them useless.

"Annoying house cat!" screeched Dorothy. Nattsu, in his Balance Breaker form, or 'True' form smirked at Dorothy further annoying her.

"Let's take her down together, Tobio," said Sae.

<<But…>>

"I'll be fine! I needed the exercise anyway. The baby will be safe because Jin-san is protecting us," she added and pumped her fist. Tobio was still hesitant but in the end, his fiancé won and he relented.

<<…Alright, let's take her down again—together.>>

"Mmm! Nattsu, come back for now!" ordered Sae and Nattsu undid his Balance Breaker and turned back to his smaller size and jumped to Sae shoulder.

<<Time to test all of that training we did before you got pregnant, Sae. Let's—>>

Before Tobio could continue, Sae's body was covered in a small golden light and then disappeared.

"…My king has put some blessings and protection on you, Sae-sama. Regardless of how much you move, the health of your child won't be affected. A-although what he put on you before was enough…" explained the shadow knight.

"Pfft—he's a bigger worrywart than you, Tobi," said Sae and laughed. Nattsu growled in agreement on her shoulder.

<<…Yeah, he is. Anyway, let's do this!>>

"Don't get in the way of my love!" shouted Dorothy as her crow flapped its wings and hundreds of sharp feathers flew towards them.

Tobio was about to move when Sae stepped in front of him. "Nattsu!" shouted Sae and the [Cowardly Leo] glowed and instantly transformed. Nattsu covered Sae's arm and a large cape appeared. She put it in front of them and blocked the attack.

"What?! How did—"

Sae appeared behind Dorothy and shouted, "Burning Axle!" The cape that Sae had around her had turned into some sort of silver, blue gauntlet and fired a powerful ball of flames at Dorothy's back.

The witch screamed in pain as she was blown away and crashed into a building. Tobio looked on in shock. He had trained with Sae for many months, but he had never seen her use her new Sacred Gear like this.

Sae landed on the ground and the gauntlet transformed back into Nattsu's normal form. Sae then gave Tobio a thumbs up.

<<W-where in the world…?>> asked Tobio.

"Mmm. I don't know? These ideas just popped into my head one day. I think Jin-san was responsible for them—like how he told us during that party how some past wielders just 'knew' this chant for the [Juggernaut Drive]. He may have left it in Nattsu after he changed him," explained Sae.

Tobio removed the darkness around his head and laughed. <<That certainly is like Jin, leaving in things like that… though when did you practice any of them?>>

"When you went to sleep after some missions. I had Natsume and Shigune help me with it—Lavinia sometimes too, though she was usually away with Jin-san."

Tobio shook his head out of shock and looked back at the building that Sae had blasted Dorothy through. However, suddenly an unholy shriek and an ominous crimson pillar of flames erupted from beyond the building that was destroyed—quickly melting it.

<<I never thought I would see anything crimson and think 'evil', but today I have,>> said Tobio. <<The Gremory family have always been pleasant devils after all, even if I only interacted with them for very brief moments.>>

The crowd turned into a black beam and slammed into the ground after the pillar of flames disappeared. Just then, large jet-black wings appeared, they were as large as the building that was just melted, from it came out Dorothy.

However, her face kept changing on a constant basis. One second it was happy, the next sad, the next angry and many more. They kept on repeating, and then… an ominous voice spoke.

"Why? Why won't you love me? Why did you choose her?" a distorted and ominous voice asked. Dorothy looked up with her ever-changing face. She then began to grow in size, and when she was finally done, she was the size of the buildings in Kyoto.

"If I can't have you… no one can!" she shouted. A large jet-black stream of feathers zoomed towards them. However, at the same time—the other creatures that she had summoned also attacked them, but…

The shadow soldiers that arrived with Sae blocked them. "Please leave these to us, we will leave the witch Dorothy to you," said the shadow knight, as they kicked and punched the monsters away.

"I want to try something. I haven't done it before, but…"

<<Do it, I'll distract her in the meantime!>> said Tobio as he leapt away with Gin. The two began their battle with Dorothy, as the woman began to fire magic at them, using the giant feathers to also attack them and her own large body size.

She left destruction wherever she swung her body. Tobio was careful not to accidentally redirect her attacks to where the residents of Kyoto were being held at. As he felt some youkais show up earlier and start evacuating them.

"Nattsu, let's try that, okay?" asked Sae. Nattsu purred and rubbed his head against Sae and then he began to glow.

Sae began to experiment more with her new Sacred Gear, formerly an Utsusemi. She had initially feared Nattsu, but they eventually became close partners and friends. Sae wasn't sure if she could achieve another Balance Breaker with Nattsu. However, she tried and was close to one… but today, she felt like she could and decided to try again.

Nattsu disappeared, and the glowing light covered both Sae's hands. Eventually they stopped glowing and what was left were gloves. A pair of metal-clad gloves. They were surrounded by a small lion design and in the middle was Nattsu's face and on the top of his head was 'Cowardly' and below was 'Leo'.

"Can you hear me, Nattsu?" asked Sae and Nattsu softly growled indicating that he could. "Okay…" she muttered and closed both her hands. They then ignited in the flames of Nattsu.

"Mmm. This should be fine," she said to herself and used the flames to float. She then propelled herself towards Tobio, Gin and Dorothy.

Once Sae arrived, she put her hands to the sky and instantly gathered a large ball of flames and threw it at Dorothy. The three who had been busy doing the death's dance saw the light and turned to look. Tobio and Gin jumped away and joined Sae as the attack hit Dorothy.

The witch screamed in pain and began to wildly throw attacks in all directions. Tobio looked at Gin and the jet-black dog nodded. Hundreds of Gins appeared on the ground with their blades and started attacking Dorothy's legs and feet.

<<Sae, you have a finishing move, right? You were quite excited to see Jin's X Blaster in his exhibition match,>> said Tobio.

"Hehe, was I that obvious?" she asked and smiled. "I do, please keep her still."

Tobio nodded and brought his scythe back and glared at Dorothy. With a singular downward motion, Dorothy's body was cut in half. Her body began to slide to different sides, but both of them noticed that her own body began to heal itself.

Sae put her right hand behind her and fired flames behind her for support. In her left hand she gathered even more powerful flames and kept on adding more to it. Nattsu helped her by increasing the output in her left hand which was clenched shut. Meanwhile, Tobio did another powerful attack and cut half of the city again. He did it in a direction where no humans would be hurt.

Nattsu began to growl indicating that Sae could unleash her attack. "Thank you, Nattsu!" replied Sae as she put her left hand forward and opened it. "Take this…!" she shouted as an enormous and powerful flame was unleashed in front of her.

It was as large as Aaron's first X Blaster in the exhibition match. In honor of him, Sae called it—

"X Burner…!" the attack kept on getting larger and larger. An added effect to this attack was that anyone hit by the flames were also petrified, making it impossible for them to run away once the flames touched them.

They would essentially be burned alive with no way to get out—the only way they could leave was if they were stronger than Sae herself, and right now she was at least True Satan-class, the same as Dorothy.

While Dorothy's power had increased, she neglected to properly train with them as she was mostly obsessed with Tobio Ikuse. While she wasn't permanently petrified, the number of flames hitting her caused her to be petrified over and over, making it a very slow for her to leave the attack's path.

Tobio did one final horizontal swing, cutting Dorothy's legs off, and he quickly joined Sae. Gin and his multiple clones began to relentlessly slash at the downed Dorothy making it impossible for her to get away.

Tobio floated behind Sae and grabbed her arm. <<Let's end it,>> he told her.

"Mmm!"

Tobio shared his black and crimson flames with Sae. It filtered through her gloves and into her X Burner attack further amplifying the power, and caused an enormous explosion. Thankfully, multiple shadow soldiers appeared and they created barriers that prevented the explosion from spreading any further.

Once it died down, both Sae and Tobio landed on the ground. They walked up to where Dorothy was and saw a woman near to death.

"…I lost again," she quietly whispered. "I couldn't gain your love again…" she tried to reach up to Tobio and Sae, but her strength left her and her arm fell to the ground. "Goodbye, Tobi-kun…"

Dorothy closed her eyes and passed away. Sae, put her hands together and gave her a small prayer. They then looked around their surroundings.

"So much destruction… are the normal humans….?"

"According to some of those shadows, they're fine and I felt the youkais moving them earlier too," replied Tobio as he left his Balance Breaker, as did Sae. Both Gin and Nattsu jumped onto their respective wielders' shoulders.

"No, we wait for…"

A large red light appeared as well as a large brown light in the distance. Both God Serena and Yanuyo had also finished their battles.

"I guess not. It seems Jin's subordinates finished their battles too… I think they would want Dorothy for something so…"

"Allow me," said the shadow knight and he picked up Dorothy's corpse and carried it. Both gave him a thankful look and they started walking towards where they felt God Serena's aura and Yanuyo's were.

…

"Is that all, girl?!" shouted God Serena.

"I'm trying my best!" she shouted back, as she fired several water-based attacks and spells at God Serena… who ate them up like it was a snack for him. "Please stop eating them! That doesn't make sense!"

"If you're with Jin-sama, nothing makes sense! —In a way, everything makes sense!" shouted God Serena.

"That makes even less sense!" said Churel. Any attack that she had sent towards the man called God Serena had been eaten by him. It didn't matter what element she used, even when she used pure magic attacks at him, he would simply slap it away. To Churel, this man made no sense.

It didn't follow anything her teacher taught her—the magic that she had learned from her didn't apply to the man.

God Serena, while playing with Churel, had been keeping an eye on the water hourglass she had made earlier. Suddenly Churel stomp her food out of frustration and raised her wand into the air. The water hourglass suddenly shined and then exploded.

From it came a giant…rabbit! God Serena stopped dodging her attacks and stared at the rabbit in confusion.

"…A rabbit?" he asked perplexed.

"Yes, Chuchun-chan," replied Churel.

"Chuchun and Churel. Quite fitting," replied God Serena as he nodded. "But this is where it ends!"

"I agree! Chuchun-chan blast him away!" ordered Churel. The giant rabbit made out of water that came out of hourglass began to swell up and then fired a large stream of water from its mouth at God Serena.

"Hmm!" God Serena balled his right fist up and covered it with flames. "Purgatory Dragon's Blazing Inferno!" he then punched towards rabbit's attack and once the two attacks collided, they exploded and evaporated.

"Uwaaaa! I can't seeeeee!" shouted Churel.

'Hmm. Is this her first time in real combat?' thought God Serena. 'She has much to learn.' He then leaped up into the air and shouted, "Scathach and the rest will enjoy training you!" God Serena generated flames on both his hands and then put them together. As a result, he created an even bigger flame.

"Purgatory Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" he shouted and threw the massive ball of flame at the rabbit monster.

"Eh? Eh? Eeeeeeeh?!" Churel panicked and didn't react in time—both Churel and her rabbit monster Chuchun-chan were incinerated by the large attack.

Once the flames dissipated what was left was a slightly burned, but alive Churel who was unconscious. "Perhaps I should have fought that devil. Yanuyo probably had a more fulfilling fight," he concluded and disappeared from the spot to join Tobio Ikuse.

…

"Pfft—I'm sorry, but that's your 'power'? Some of your physical abilities slightly increases?" asked Yanuyo.

"They increased by twenty times!" screamed Ugginnal. The Super Devil was getting frustrated and was recklessly swinging and firing attacks at Yanuyo to no avail.

The tattoos that glowed had specific traits that would increase Ugginnal's abilities. If it glowed green, it would enhance his speed, if it glowed blue, it would enhance his defenses, if it glowed red, it would enhance his power and durability. If it glowed purple, all of his abilities would increase.

Ugginnal's tattoos were currently glowing purple. He had tried to use the others earlier, but quickly figured out that Yanuyo was on another level than him. However, this dance of theirs had been carrying on for the last few minutes, and he was getting nowhere.

Ugginnal didn't want to admit it, but Yanuyo was stronger than him, and that fact angered him. So much so that he was recklessly attacking anything within his reach. However, Yanuyo controlled his outburst by redirecting his attacks to less populated areas.

He also sent a clone to the youkais that were evacuating the sleeping humans to not go to certain areas otherwise they would be hit by the crossfire of fighting.

Yanuyo then sighed and kicked Ugginnal in the stomach sending him away. He looked at the devil with indifference and said, "You won't be useful to Jin-sama. So this is where your life ends. It was… slightly entertaining being with you. Perhaps that female wizard would have been more entertaining."

"Don't make fun of me!" This enraged Ugginnal even more as he kept pushing his powers to a point where he started to bleed everywhere.

"Your body can't even handle your own power. Are you sure you're a 'Super Devil'? And not just a glorified experiment?" asked Yanuyo. Ugginnal kept swinging his fists and firing demonic attacks at Yanuyo.

He couldn't think of anything to say back to the man. Everything he said made sense to him. Ugginnal was brawn, next to no brains. He relied on his fists and power to do all the talking, and let everyone else use 'those fancy words' while he would just pummel anything in front of him.

"Aaaaaaarrghhhh!" shouted Ugginnal as he poured all his strength into his next punch. To his surprise Yanuyo stood still—almost inviting him to hit him. 'Even if it was a trap…!' He didn't stop, he kept going and finally landed a hit on Yanuyo. "Take that, asshole!"

"…Yes, I did take it," replied Yanuyo.

"Wha—?!" Ugginnal was shocked. Once the dust settled and he saw Yanuyo, he was shocked beyond belief. He had poured everything into that attack, yet it did nothing for the man. His fist had definitely connected to his stomach, yet…

"It did nothing, huh?" asked Yanuyo disappointedly. He shook his head, kicked Ugginnal on the chin, sending him into the sky. "Hmm… what was that move again?" He thought about it for a few seconds and then remembered. "Ah yes, Aaron-sama shared it with me, fufu, what a fascinating move."

Yanuyo brought both hands to his side, his left palm open and his right hand in a fist. He looked at the falling Ugginnal and muttered, "First… comes rock." A large ball of aura briefly flashed and then shrunk; an enormous amount of aura then started to gathered in his clenched fist.

As Ugginnal fell towards Yanuyo—

"Rock, paper…"

Just as Ugginnal was about to hit the ground, he looked at Yanuyo, who had a grin on his face but still looked calm.

"…Rock," he finished and punched Ugginnal in the face, obliterating his face, and the surrounding area around them—as well as creating a large brown aura ball in their vicinity. The second Yanuyo's fist hit Ugginnal's face, he died.

Once Ugginnal body crashed into the ground, Yanuyo sighed. "Dear me, you died that easily? Kuku, well, I'll take your body since it may be useful for Aaron-sama." He then grabbed Ugginnal's body, and stored it in his necklace before disappearing from the spot.

…

Both Yanuyo and God Serena showed up in front of Tobio and Sae.

"Hmm. It seems you two are done on your end, well done," said Yanuyo.

"Yanuyo-san, God Serena-san. Yes, we're finished—with that I will go and—"

"No need, Jin-sama wants you to do something else," interrupted God Serena.

Tobio tilted his head and God Serena produced a small note. Tobio took it and read through it. After reading it he chuckled. "Seriously…? W-well, I don't mind, but…"

"It will be fine, Tobio-boy. We have more than enough here, go," said God Serena. Tobio felt uneasy and unsure if he should just… relax. But in the end after a bit of pestering, he and Sae decided to go back to Grigori. However, he said that he would at least help protect it if anything else happened.

The note that Aaron gave Tobio was to go back to their home and leave the rest of the mission to them. Tobio felt strange letting all this happen without doing anything. However, he knew it was better to accept Aaron's decision otherwise he would be fighting a losing battle.

"I will go to my next spot then," said Yanuyo.

"Hmm-hmm! I will do that too, but I will leave this young one at Aaron-sama's home," said God Serena.

"Does she have potential?" Yanuyo asked as he looked at the unconscious Churel.

"I do not know! But… she may!" God Serena said and did a pose with an unconscious Churel.

Yanuyo shrugged his shoulders and left, followed by God Serena.

…

"Pesky dragon!" shouted Richard de Valle. He had tried to hit Saji while in his Balance Breaker Scale Mail, but had no luck. The Black Dragon King had easily avoided his attack, and was simply playing with him.

Richard de Valle had short gray hair that covered the right side of his face, hazel-brown eyes, wore a black professional business suit and had a cigar in his mouth.

Saji then shot out several [Absorption Lines] at Richard who dodged some of them, but a few attached themselves to him. He immediately felt his power being drained. He clicked his tongue and tried to cut the lines, but was unable to, so he turned his attention to Saji and fired several magic balls at him.

Saji simply swiped them away and dashed towards Richard and hit him with a barrage of punches. Richard coughed up blood and tried to retaliate, but his power had been drained by a significant amount and he began to panic.

"Heh, can't do much, can you? Aaron-senpai may want you, so…!" Saji pulled the man towards him. He then attached several [Delete Field] lines to him and reduced his power even more. Once Richard was in front of him, he punched Saji's helmet, but…

"Too bad, that felt like a slap from a kid," said Saji smugly.

"You're a cheat character…!" roared Richard out of frustration.

"I felt the same thing with Aaron-senpai!" Saji shouted back and kicked Richard in the balls making the man fall over and clutch his family jewels. "I didn't think you'd feel that, my bad man," he apologized but got no answer. Richard de Valle had passed out due to the pain. "But I didn't think you would be this week… what's their game plan…?" Saji asked himself and then glanced at Ruruko.

Ruruko was also dominating her fighting partner, Petronilla. However, Petronilla was also holding her own. She had studied magic extensively as she wanted to kill Alice more than anyone in the world.

Petronilla had long glowing orange hair that reached her waist. A part of her hair also covered the right side of her face. She had blue eyes and wore a light blue and white dress. She wore brown loafer shoes.

Back when both were still normal humans, Petronilla had been a loyal servant to Alice Kyteler. She did what she wanted, cleaned her home to be spotless, ran whatever errands she wanted, and generally was there for Alice.

Alice Kyteler was not the kind of woman she was back a few hundred years ago. She was greedy, and wanted to learn as much about the world as she could while she lived in the little country of Ireland. In that pursuit, she found the existence of the supernatural to be real, summoned a devil that had plans of becoming a rogue and the rest was history.

She was accused of being the first witch in the country of Ireland, which caused her to fled, and eventually she joined Queen Halloween's side and became immortal through the help of Roselia Millstein.

However, once she had disappeared, they accused Petronilla as a witch too as they needed someone to burn after the witch hunt. She died because of Alice's neglectfulness, and she carried that grudge and hatred to her grave as she was burned alive. Hundreds of years later, she was resurrected by the Khaos Order. They gave her a new body and had her infiltrated the realm of Queen Halloween and confirm the existence of a certain monster.

Petronilla also found out that Alice was living in that realm which made her both happy and excited. She could finally get revenge on the woman that had wrong her hundreds of years ago.

Richard de Valle was Alice's third husband. They got along while married, however, once he died, he left his fortune along with everything else to be divided between his three sons and Alice. Because Alice was a greedy and vile woman back then, she changed certain documents which let her inherit everything from her late husband, leaving nothing to his children.

Richard's children became bitter and resentful as they lived a life of poverty until their death. Once they met their father in the afterlife, they told him of what his wife, Alice had done and he became enraged. After that, he vowed that he would somehow get his revenge on that woman, and as luck would have it, he was resurrected along with Petronilla.

These two studied and trained extensively to use magic. They also took the blood of Nyarlathotep, but it didn't make them too strong as they were already weak humans. They changed from Low-class to being Satan-class. Now to most, that would be a significant gain in power, but in front of both Saji and Ruruko… it meant nothing.

Ruruko kicked away the elemental magic attacks that Petronilla fired at her. This frustrated the older woman as she pulled at her hair in frustration.

"Why won't you—?! Ugh?!"

Ruruko didn't let her finish as she covered her body in touki and kicked her in the stomach, she followed it up by doing a spinning roundhouse kick to her face which made her fly into the air, she then jumped higher than Petronilla and brought her leg down and slammed it on her head.

Petronilla had already passed out after she received the roundhouse kick. However, after she crashed to the ground after Ruruko's combo attack, she was well and truly unconscious.

"R-Ruruko, this isn't a fighting game. I think you did way too much…"

"I held back you know, Gen-chan? I mean, we both did, but if we wanted, we could just split this realm apart if we didn't have good control of our powers! Let a lady do a combo attack if she wants!" retorted Ruruko.

Saji couldn't say anything back to that as he defeatedly nodded in agreement with his girlfriend.

"Good job you two. Please bring them back to President Sona and we can clean up here. We'll inform Aaron about what we found out about this realm," said Tsubaki.

"Tsubaki-senpai are you done on your end?" asked Saji as he grabbed Richard and tied him up with a special rope that Aaron gave him. Ruruko did the same thing with Petronilla.

"Yes I am. Come now, we can help defeat the ones in the realm after we bring them back," she ordered and they left the castle.

'I wonder how everyone else is…? They'll surely be fine, right? I wonder where Aaron-senpai is…' thought Saji as they arrived by Sona. "President."

"Saji, Ruruko, well done. I've sent Momo and Reya with Aaron's shadow soldiers underground with Queen Halloween's permission. Let us focus on the surface and leave the underground to them," said Sona.

"…Y-yes! Leave this to us!" replied Saji. He had no idea what she meant but he trusted his [King] and fellow peerage members.

…

"Oi Vali, you're a real tsundere you know? Going after your sister in Italy. Why can't you be honest?" asked Bikou.

"Shut up… she's close, get ready, I feel—"

Vali didn't finish his sentence as he felt two powerful auras collide against each other. When his team arrived, they saw both Lavinia Reni and Yashina's ice powers colliding. It was clear to the Vali Team that Lavinia Reni had the advantage.

Lavinia's two hybrid parents, Glenda and Ashtulai were being held back by her ice dragons and ice knights. Both were shocked by this, but Glenda didn't think Lavinia had reached this level of power yet. But at the same time, she couldn't help but have a maniacal grin on her face.

'How, how did she become this powerful? She wasn't like this while with the Slash/Dog Team… it has to be the Middleman—the Dual Dragon Emperor—Jin Skyward! You have a profound effect on people. I want to study you!' she thought excitedly.

"Glenda!" shouted Vali and flew in front of her with his [Divine Dividing] Scale Mail.

"Ara? If it isn't White Dragon Emperor-kun. Come here to dance again~?" she asked with an evil smirk.

"Vaa-kun, please take care of that little girl over there," Lavinia asked her little brother and pointed at Ashtulai.

"May your team deal with my parents for now? But please don't kill them. I wish too—"

"Focus on me, bitch!" shouted Yashina and increased her own power. However, in turn, Lavinia increased hers even more and pushed Yashina's ice back.

"…I was speaking to my precious little brother," Lavinia said coldly. "You keep your mouth shut…!"

Team Vali and Vali himself shivered. 'D-did she become even colder when angry?' Vali asked himself and shook his head. "Fine, I'll deal with her!" he shouted back at her and kicked Ashtulai in the stomach and flew after her. "Take care of her parents!" Vali shouted to his team.

"Ah jeez, we're really doing this, huh?" asked Bikou.

"If it's for our leader, I'll do it," said Calantha.

"They seem powerful, so I wish to fight them for now," added Arthur.

"I'll assist you, Onii-sama," said Le Fay. Le Fay had temporarily joined her previous team for this current operation. Arthur nodded and they disappeared and tackled the two hybrids away from Glenda.

"Fufu, I'm the final boss then? I don't mind, I'll wait for my adorable daughter…" muttered Glenda. She then looked up at the sky and added, "It will also give us plenty of time for it to be ready…I can't wait to merge with you…~"

…

"Fighting the White Dragon Emperor isn't terrible either," said Ashtulai as she summoned her sword.

"Hmph. This will be over soon," replied Vali as he faced the young woman.

Ashtulai smirked at Vali and said, "Since I know you're a Lucifer, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Ashtulai. I was created through the use of the blood and flesh of an Evil Dragon and a human. You saw my 'mother' Yashina fighting Lavinia Reni, my father is the Evil Dragon Aži Dahāka."

"Heeeh? So you're worth my time then—I'd like to fight one of the Evil Dragons in the future after all, this will serve as good practice," replied Vali. "Let's go Albion."

{Yeah.}

"Do your best, Lucifer!" shouted Ashtulai as she thrust her sword towards Vali.

Vali had blinked and she appeared in front of him. The young Lucifer twisted his body to dodge the attack and followed it up by attempting to kick her on her back, but to his surprise, when he hit her, it felt like he hit hard scales.

"Try again, Lucifer," she said with a grin and kicked Vali—the young man managed to block the kick with his arms and was blown backwards.

"…Well, that did work in my favor," replied Vali. He then put his hand out and grinned.

{Divide!}

Ashtulai felt a bit of her power decrease and she grinned. She knew she had a time limit for fighting the young Lucifer, however, she didn't care. She wanted to win against him and decided…

"Hmm?" Vali frowned when he felt the young woman in front of him change.

Her magic power drastically increased and the air around her felt different to him.

{Vali, be careful. Something feels strange about her.}

"I kno—ugh?!" Vali couldn't finish his sentence as the sword that she was holding pierced his side. He was shocked that a normal sword had managed to pierce through his armor. Vali tried to punch her, but she disappeared and appeared further away from him.

Ashtulai looked up and Vali was shocked to see her face had gained strange markings.

{Vali. I heard about this from the Red One and the other Albion. Apparently, they call that phenomenon… [Dragon Force]. It's a hybrids version of [Outrage] that we dragons sometimes enter. It's a dangerous state, because they won't—}

"I know, you told me a few years back. So she'll relentlessly pursue me, huh? We can't hold back then…" said Vali and he began to chant.

"I, who is about to awaken—"

"Am the White Dragon Emperor who will take the law down to the darkness—"

"I walk the road of domination with infinite destruction and by piercing through the imaginary dream—"

"I shall become a pure Emperor of White Dragon—"

"{{{{And I shall have you obey the silvery-white illusions and the perfect evil ways!}}}}"

{Juggernaut Overdrive!!}

Vali donned his silvery-white armor and immediately appeared behind Ashtulai. As he went to kick her on the head, Ashtulai turned around and countered with a punch. The two attacks collided and produced powerful white sparks. Vali grimaced as he had felt this before.

'She… she's a hybrid but has dragon slaying properties in her…?!' he shouted in his mind and was blown away. He quickly corrected himself and fired several demonic balls at the girl, who easily sliced through them with her sword.

Additionally, Ashtulai drew several hundred magic circles behind her and fired them at Vali.

"Compress!"

{Compression Divider!!}

The attacks that were aimed at Vali began to halve themselves until they vanished from existence. Vali then flew towards Ashtulai and threw a punch at her face.

"You never learn, do you…?" she asked with a grin. But as Vali's fist was about to reach her face, he disappeared from her sight. Ashtulai was shocked and looked around her, but couldn't find him. She tried to locate him, but she also couldn't find him. "W-what the—"

Vali then reappeared and hit her with a full-powered punch to the face, sending her flying in the opposite direction. He then used [Divide] three times, halving her power even more. Ashtulai corrected herself and looked at the young Lucifer in shock.

"Heh. I had an extra 50 years of training, like I'd let that go to waste!" shouted Vali.

"Martial arts? No… what was that? …It doesn't matter, I'll kill you, Lucifer!" barked Ashtulai as she charged back at Vali. She threw a flurry of magic enchanted slashes at him with her sword. However, to her shock he only needed to move his body slightly to avoided the attacks. 'What's happening?!'

Once the flurry of attacks ended, Vali countered with his own barrage of kicks and punches, adding two [Divides] in between them further decreasing Ashtulai's power. The woman was getting more and more frustrated as she didn't understand what was happening.

Vali Lucifer had received various beatings throughout the 50 years he and others spent in the [Training Facility]. He also faced several different combatants in there, this gave him a wealthy amount of knowledge about various fighting styles. He also had replicated a few of them, and while he was nowhere near being a master at them, he himself believed that he could recreate 85% of them with expert proficiency.

So right now, Vali was mixing them all to his own style and he was both confident and also shocked that it was working. Vali also learned touki during that time. He then covered his body with touki and kicked Ashtulai on the chin sending her further into the sky. He then gathered a large amount of demonic power and fired it at the young woman.

Once hit, it resulted in a large explosion that rang out all around them and created a powerful shockwave. When the smoke cleared, Ashtulai's clothing was left in tatters, her other arm was missing and her right eye. However, her rage was still unending and she immediately flew back to Vali.

She fired several magical attacks at him, to which he countered with [Compression Divider]. Vali put his hand out again and halved her power once more. Ashtulai gritted her teeth and slashed at Vali once she was near enough.

"…You've slowed down, woman," said Vali.

"Shut up!" she roared back and threw out several slashes at the young Lucifer. However, as Vali said, they had slowed down considerably. He didn't even need to put much effort in dodging anymore.

"You've served your purpose, and I had fun—be proud of that—the woman called Ashtulai. If only you were a bit stronger…" he said to her and punched her in the gut.

Ashtulai puked out blood and was blown away. She didn't even try to recover—she knew she lost. 'Aahh…so this is where I die, huh…? All that training, all those praises from Big sis—no…Mother Yashina, but none from father—'

"Compress," Vali said softly with his hand held out.

{Compression Divider.}

Ashtulai began to slowly shrink—she was halved, and halved until only her eye was left, a single tear left it. She was finally halved out of existence by Vali. He had achieved victory, but at the very end he didn't enjoy it—the look that she gave him at the end, to Vali, it had many regrets.

{You won, hold your head up high,} said Albion.

"Yeah. Let's go back to her parents then." Vali then flew back. He had located his team and planned to join them.

…

Lavinia Reni and Yashina's ice attacks collided against each other, creating small explosions all around them. Both of their auras also clashed, they had been floating in the same spot as earlier with Glenda watching over them with an amused smirk. They hadn't uttered a single word to each other since their battle began, but…

"…I see. So Ashtulai lost," Yashina suddenly said.

"Vaa-kun is strong. He's my husband's little brother after all," Lavinia replied with a smile.

"…Well then, there's no reason to hold back anymore…!" said Yashina as she increased her power to its maximum. She created hundreds of ice soldiers and they all started attacking Lavinia with their own ice attacks.

But still, they did not reach her as magic circles appeared all around her and absorbed the attacks. Furthermore, the ice soldiers she created were quickly dealt with by Lavinia's own ice dragons and ice knights.

Yashina appeared behind Lavinia with a sword made of ice, and slashed at her. Lavinia turned around and slapped the sword, breaking it. Yashina was briefly shocked, but she grinned again and summoned another one. Every time she swung her sword at Lavinia, a powerful shockwave occurred. However, it meant nothing to the Ice Princess as she simply shattered her sword with a simple slap.

Lavinia was confused by Yashina's excitement. Over the years she spent with everyone—especially Aaron, she started to wonder about many things. She had already spoken to this about Aaron, but she had started to think about it even more during those silent months.

If both of them were born at the same time—both met at the same time, if they weren't part of the supernatural, how would their lives be? Would they live normally? Fall in love normally? Start a relationship, get engaged, married, have children…it was a future that wasn't possible. However, she had the present now, and she didn't want to change it.

"Why are you trying so hard?" she asked Yashina.

"To prove that one of us is worthy of his love! Our Sacred Gears are identical, which means we have to battle—only one can be left!" shouted Yashina as she hurled large attacks of ice at Lavinia.

"Prove…why must we prove anything? Why do you live such a life? Why don't you—"

"Shut up! You don't know what I've been through! This is how my life have been, and I won't change it because it shaped me into who I am, and I'm strong!" she roared and her eyes glowed. The surrounding area—no, the entire country of Italy began to tremble.

Behind Yashina a large mountain of ice appeared, then it began to tremble too. Yashina grinned. "This is the power you allowed me to awaken, Lavinia Reni! I thank you!" she shouted at the woman. "Come forth! Zeroth!"

The enormous mountain shaped like an iceberg shattered and out came a large creature made of ice. It was around 500-meter-tall monster. In the middle of its chest, shoulder and both knees had eyes that were animated and occasionally blinked. It had a tail, sharp teeth and a pointed head. All around it was also blue armor.

The Ice Demon Zeroth. The ultimate creature created by Yashina's Sacred Gear—one could call this her X side Balance Breaker, as she herself had no idea how she awakened it. The only thing she suspected was that it was born out of jealousy and the need to become stronger than the woman in front of her—Lavinia Reni. To Yashina, she had everything she wanted, and if she killed her, she would have it all instead of her.

"Oi, wait!" shouted Bikou.

"Fufu, so they're going to do that, huh?" wondered Glenda as she looked at the two figures who had arrived beside Zeroth.

Lavinia Reni's parents who had turned into hybrids had appeared beside the large ice monster, they then flew towards the middle of its chest, and merged with the eye in the middle. Yashina laughed and Lavinia was shocked by this.

The Ice Demon Zeroth roared into the air, causing a ripple effect across the country of Italy. It then glowed and after a few seconds it had absorbed the properties of the two hybrids. It had extra markings all over its body which began to glow too.

"Did you suspect this to happen, Glenda?" asked Yashina who was on top of Zeroth's head.

Glenda had flown beside her and smirked. "Who knows? Maybe we did design those two to be like that, or not? I certainly don't remember~"

"I can sense the sarcasm there," replied Yashina. She then shook her head. "It doesn't matter, with this… I'll demolish this entire country and kill your former student. You're fine with that, right?"

"Yes, I am. If you kill her, don't destroy the body, I'll use it for further research, hmm… I do have that—so I'll use it to grab her Sacred Gear too, so I can analyze it further. Hmm-hmm~ so many possibilities for the future~" hummed Glenda in excitement.

Lavinia Reni looked at Yashina, Glenda and the monster in front of her. She didn't feel anything but sadness and pity for them. When she was passed around by her relatives, she felt lost, like no one wanted her in the world—it was made worse because of the invisible dolls she kept seeing. This in turn made her hate dolls and any association with them—she was horrified to find out her Sacred Gear produced them too, but…

When she was taken in by Glenda, for the first time in her life she felt some kind of loving parental figure. She was thankful towards Giorgia and Dario for trying to take care of her, but to her, they were more like an uncle and auntie. But she still loved both of them.

Even after experiencing that with Glenda, her trauma towards those dolls wasn't that easy to get over. After she was abandoned by Glenda and found a new family in the Slash/Dog Team, they helped her try to overcome that trauma. It was effective, but she still had it when she met Aaron.

Even after those words he told her, she still feared them slightly—but to her, Aaron Toole, or Jin Skyward was the biggest anomaly in her life that far. So she decided to face it even more with him by her side, and eventually, she did, and she no longer feared them. She embraced them because they could bring her a happier future.

Lavinia looked back at the large ice demon. "Mom…dad… I want you two to rest in peace… that's why…"

The two eyes of the Ice Demon Zeroth suddenly shone brightly, and then large beams of icy and snowy stream shot from them and hurled themselves towards Lavinia Reni. The beast's power was amplified when both of Lavinia's parents merged with it.

"Please give me strength. Mom, dad… Aaron…" she whispered. Lavinia Reni wasn't sure, but… in her heart she felt it—it was subtle, but she felt reassuring hands on her shoulders.

…

On that night—when Lavinia and Aaron had visited her home country, and her home in the countryside, and after accepting his proposal, they had gone back to her newly repaired home. Lavinia Reni was without a doubt, the happiest woman in the world that day.

"Aaron~ I think I came up with a new Balance Breaker for my Sacred Gear…but I need help with it. I'm not too sure how to pull it off," she said.

They were in the kitchen, making a midnight snack with Lavinia embracing Aaron from behind.

"Hmm? Well, I'll help in whatever way I can, but whatever it is, it will be pretty powerful. Call it a gut feeling," he told her. "How do you want help with it?" he asked.

"…Read my mind and find out," she said.

Aaron stopped what he was doing, turned around and bumped his forehead with hers. Both of them closed their eyes and Aaron read what kind of Balance Breaker she wished to achieve. After he was done, he pulled away and chuckled.

"Very ambitious. You can probably activate it, but mastering that power…will take time, just like Cao Cao's own subspecies of his former [True Longinus], can you do—no, I know you can pull it off, but like I was, it'll take time," he told her.

"…Being able to use it for the first time will be enough. I wanted to dedicate it to you, my parents and myself."

"Yourself?" Aaron asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Mmm. For my own growth…to finally let go of the past and move forward with my own future, with you and everyone else by my side."

Aaron stared at her a bit stunned. He, however, smiled in the end and nodded. "Is that so…? Well, if that's how my fiancé wants to do things, I certainly can't say no, now can I?" Aaron glanced out the window and nodded again.

"…We can go into the [Pocket Dimension] right now for a few minutes. How about five years? After we can enjoy our night," he suggested.

"Thank you…"

And thus, they left to train for her new Balance Breaker.

…

'Go get them, Nia,' she heard Aaron in her head and his familiar hand on her back.

Before the two attacks hit Lavinia—the two attacks that were strong enough to wipe out the rest of Italy in her direction and anything beyond it—Lavinia Reni erupted in a bright blue and silvery light.

"Wha—she stopped it?!" Yashina shouted in disbelief. The light that erupted from her had stopped the attack and even destroyed it.

"Ooooooh! She reached another Balance Breaker?! This is magnificent! The Middleman… I must have him; he brings about miracles for everyone! He's a specimen I want! Satanael and Promestein will definitely want him too!" shouted Glenda in glee.

"What the…" Vali floated there in shock, as did the rest of the Vali Team.

Bikou whistled and laughed. "I guess your princess unlocked another Balance Breaker, huh? First you and now her. I guess your Onii—woah?! Hey don't try hitting me!" he shouted at his leader.

The pillar of light kept expanding, and expanding until it covered the vast majority of the continent of Europe. The people of Europe panicked when the flames erupted earlier in the night, but now in their sleep, they felt a calming sensation.

The light then vanished, what was left after the light was a woman covered in a beautiful blue-white dress, on her head was a silver crown with a blue pendent in the middle.

Lavinia Reni, had reached a new Balance Breaker for her [Tempest Extinction]. Her physical appearance also changed slightly. The tips of her hair became permanently silver. With a gentle smile, she waved her hand and dismissed the ice monsters she created. However, three others took their place.

Above her was a large avian with predominantly sky-blue plumage and wings made of ice. On its forehead is a crest that consists of three dark blue rhombus-shaped feathers. It has circular red eyes, a short gray beak, and long, thin gray legs. Each foot has three forward-facing toes and one that faces backwards. On its chest is a mass of pale blue, downy feathers. Its long, streamer-like tail is longer than its body and the same shade of blue as its crest.

To her left was a kyuubi. Its coat is pale blue, and its fur is more flowing and wispier. The tips of its tails and crest, as well as the lower halves of its legs, are white. Additionally, it has large eyes, which are blue, and small tufts of fur in front of its ears.

Behind her was a large dragon, larger than the Ice Demon Zeroth, standing at 1500 meters tall. The dragon had three horns. Its right was ice blue, the middle was yellow and the left was white. Its shoulders were covered in 'squares' of ice with two pins protruding from each. It had thin arms with two rings and three claws each. It had wings between the rings on its forearms, and its right arm and wing were frozen. It had white eyes with piercing yellow pupils.

"Kyu-chan, please take care of the ice monster, and please don't destroy it. I want to talk to my parents after," she softly whispered to the dragon behind her. The dragon let out a powerful growl and tackled the Ice Demon Zeroth.

With the difference in size, Ice Demon Zeroth stood no chance. After the initial charge, parts of its body were damaged, but it began to quickly repair it. However, when the dragon called Kyu fired an energy blast at the same spot, the regeneration stopped.

"What the…" Yashina didn't finish her sentence as the pale blue kyuubi attacked her with an ice breath. The woman dodged the attack and fired several elemental attacks toward the kyuubi. However, the kyuubi howled, and her attacks vibrated and the shattered, leaving Yashina even more confused.

"This is stupid…how…how the hell did she…?!" frustrated, Yashina summoned even more ice soldiers and had them attack the kyuubi.

"Ara~? I'm being targeted now too?" asked Glenda as she dodged attacks from the ice bird that Lavinia created. She sat on her broom as she did so, all the while summoned several defensive magic circles and blocked some of the attacks.

Glenda herself was at the peak of God-class in power and she was confident in her own powers, but she had to silently admit that the attacks she was receiving were harder to defend against than she thought. But at the same time, she was happy since she could analyze them afterwards and improve in her own magic.

As Glenda smugly gloated, she felt a sudden sharp pain on her shoulder, and when she looked over, to her horror there were ice blue feathers stuck to her and she began to bleed. Her attention snapped to the ice bird that Lavinia had created and she frowned.

"Tch. How are you…?!" she growled at the avian, but didn't get time to say anymore as she was then attacked again.

Lavinia watched from a distance as the new creatures she created battled with those three. She then looked at her hand and thought, 'Should I use it…? No… this is fine for now; I will save this for another time. It's like Aaron said…' she then looked around her surroundings and saw the destruction.

She felt the shadow soldiers moving the residents to a safer area earlier so they wouldn't be caught in the crossfire, but she knew that not all of them would be safe—lives were definitely lost.

"If that's the case…!" shouted Yashina, who had distracted the blue kyuubi with her ice soldiers. She glared at Lavinia Reni who stared at her with curiosity. Yashina put her hands together to form a triangle and muttered as she flew towards Lavinia Reni, "Mahakadoma."

A small blue ball expanded from her chest where her Sacred Gear's mark was. In that small blue sphere, which covered the entire town and a bit beyond—time had been frozen. To Yashina's delight, everything, and everyone in the surrounding area had stopped moving.

She slowed down her pace and finally arrived in front of Lavinia Reni. "Even with that newly acquired Balance Breaker, it still meant nothing to my other Trump Card. Mahakadoma or Mahāpadma. It quite literally freezes both time and space, and only I can move within it," she said to the frozen Lavinia Reni.

Yashina created an ice sword and ran it along Lavinia's neck. "I can finally have what's mine—"

As she was about to finish her sentence, several ice blades pierced her body from above and below her. Yashina became shocked, so shocked that she couldn't utter a single world.

"Wha—" she then noticed that Lavinia Reni's monsters weren't frozen, but they were simply staring at her. However, everyone and everything else were frozen. No, not only them but even Aaron's shadow soldiers were staring at Yashina.

However, Glenda, Ice Demon Zeroth and the others who were allied with them being dealt by the shadow soldiers were frozen. This left her utterly astounded.

"Did you think you won?" asked the voice of Lavinia. Yashina slowly turned her head to see Lavinia Reni to her left. She moved her eyes back to the woman in front of her and it suddenly turned into a 3-meter-tall Ice doll.

Lavinia flew closer to Yashina and continued. "If you're strong enough, any kind of time stopping or freezing ability won't work on you. You're a powerful person, Yashina. But you're broken. I don't know what happened in your life, but… perhaps some rehabilitation is needed?" asked Lavinia.

Yashina tried to speak, but no words came out. She tried to but when she did her vocal cords froze and no words came out.

"I wonder if Aaron will do what he did to Avezza on you?" Lavinia asked herself and put a hand on Yashina's cheek. "We could use powerful people on our side, though, we'll try rehabilitation first, after that…" she trailed off and looked at Glenda and Ice Demon Zeroth. Lavinia looked back at Yashina and smiled. "Go to sleep for now, Yashina. When we meet again, it'll be under better circumstances."

"Sto—"

Yashina finally got the words out, but she was then frozen in ice—the type of ice that she herself couldn't undo or break. Once that was done, her trump card, Mahāpadma was undone and Lavinia stored Yashina in her ring.

Lavinia sent her other two monsters to deal with Yashina's Ice Demon Zeroth, because to her surprise it didn't vanish after Yashina was captured.

'Could it have its own will? Maybe it acts independently from its wielder? Just like the Four Fiends, Canis Lykaon and my Ice creatures…' she thought.

Her creatures flew towards Ice Demon Zeroth and Lavinia floated in front of Glenda. The two silently stared at each other with Glenda healing her wounds with an item.

Glenda was a woman in her early forties. She had long white hair and purple eyes. She wore a blue top and a long creamy yellow box pleated skirt. She wore white boots, a large white hat with a blue feather and purple star on it and a light purple cape.

"Is it time, my beloved daughter? Won't you come back to me? You've achieved what appears to be an X Side Balance Breaker, and your body has changed. I would like to analyze and research more about it, and so will my colleagues you know?" asked Glenda in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"…Are you not bothered by the fact that a member of your organization was captured?" asked Lavinia.

"Hmm? Ah, Yashina? Well, she's mostly a battle maniac obsessed with the Middleman. She also wiped her memories of all our meetings and anything relevant, so you won't get anything from her. Now, how about my offer, Lavinia?" she asked again.

"I refuse. But… was our time really fake? Did you really not care about me?" Lavinia asked the witch in front of her.

Glenda sighed and shook her head. "Lavinia…" she said in a sweet voice, however, it turned into an uncaring and cruel smile. "I merely used you. A naïve child who was passed around her family because they thought she was strange, but in reality, her Sacred Gear was manifesting, so I took you in."

Glenda got up on her broom as she had been sitting on it and spread her arms out. "I merely gave you the basic necessities. I taught you magic on a whim but found out you had a high aptitude for it, and also helped you master your Sacred Gear. You were like a cute little puppy, doing everything I did without question."

She sighed and looked at Lavinia directly in the eyes. "I never once loved you—the Glenda you know—the woman you know was a false mask I put on. Everything, and everyone… is a tool for me to use. Be it the others in the Wizards of Oz, the Khaos Order, or any other factions we are in alliance with. As long as I get what I want in the end, it doesn't matter what steps I take," she stated coldly to Lavinia.

"I found it quite amusing that you truly loved and cared for me even after I abandoned you. You searched for me for many years, didn't you? Fufu, how cute. You even had a mental breakdown because of what August told you, fufu, what a silly child," she said and sat back down on her broom.

A single tear left Lavinia's eye, she then closed her eyes and muttered, "I see…"

"Ara? Are you going to have another mental breakdown? I was the one who suggested in resurrecting your parents you know? They were brought back normally at first, we got their new bodies ready, and I killed them, slowly—while telling them what I did to you and how you suffered afterwards. Fufu, both of them truly hated me too, you know?" she snorted and swiped at the air as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard in her life.

A large demonic ball was suddenly thrown towards Glenda and she created a defensive magic circle and blocked it. The one who had fired it was Vali Lucifer. Lavinia was angered by this, but the one to truly be pissed off was the young Lucifer.

Even though he didn't say it in words, he was well and truly done with the woman called Glenda. Still in his [Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive] he rushed Glenda and threw a flurry of punches and kicks. Glenda managed to keep up with Vali's assault and even fired several magic attacks at him. However, Vali simply countered with multiple [Divides] and weakened them.

"Vaa-kun…" muttered Lavinia.

"He may not say it Ice Princess, but he does show it through his actions," said Bikou as he arrived with the Vali Team beside Lavinia. "Cool Balance Breaker by the way, what does it do?"

"I know… and thank you, but I won't tell you yet. It'll be a secret for the future," replied Lavinia.

"You've become stronger, White Dragon Emperor~!" exclaimed Glenda happily. "How about I take your body and analyze it too while I'm at it~?"

"Over my dead body!" shouted Vali. "Compress!" he shouted again and aimed the attack at Glenda.

{Compression Divider!}

The woman instantly created magic circles and fired at Vali and countered his [Compression Divider]. Vali clicked his tongue and also summoned his own magic circles and fired back at Glenda.

Glenda laughed at Vali as she flew around on her broom and dodged his attacks. In frustration, Vali chased after her while sending attacks her way.

"I'll leave this to Vaa-kun for now. I'll go deal with that," Lavinia said and looked at the Ice Demon Zeroth. "Please help him when you can, but please also try to capture her," she said to them and left.

Once Lavinia left, Bikou turned to the rest of the team and asked, "Soooo do we help him?"

"He wouldn't want that," said Calantha.

"For once, I agree with her," added Arthur. Le Fay agreed with her brother with Fenrir watching everything happen from a distance.

"We will leave it to our all-mighty leader then," concluded Bikou and he sighed. He got comfortable on his Jīndou Yun, took our snacks and watched the fight and chase between the witch and dragon.

…

Lavinia Reni's Soliloquy

…

As I left towards the monster that Yashina created, memories of my brief time with my parents flashed in my mind. My heart was filled with sadness as I thought back at the happy times we had. Though it was brief, I enjoyed my time with them, so the thought of them being used this way hurt me.

Aaron gave me a chance to speak to them one last time when we went back to my hometown. It felt like a magical moment. Even though they were from a different timeline, they were still like my parents in this universe.

I finally arrived in front of the monster. Kyu-chan (dragon), Alo-chan (kyuubi) and Cyuno-chan (avian/bird) were keeping the monster busy, as instructed they did not immediately kill the thing. I wanted to see if I could communicate with my parents of this world one more time.

According to my former teacher and mother-figure, she told them about the supernatural and about me, so I won't need to explain much to them when I meet them again. I wonder if they'll—

Cúntóir: Answer: Lavinia?

'C-Cúntóir…? How did you—never mind, anything should be possible with Aaron. How can I help you?' I asked her.

Cúntóir: Answer: As you said, anything is possible… I can have you meet them right now if you want. How about it?

'But… how…?'

Cúntóir: Answer: His shadow soldiers are everywhere. He saw a lot of things happening around the world right now. I'm surprised he hasn't exploded and helped all of you—thought I equated it to him wanting all of you to grow without his help. He trusts you all to pull through.

...Why is he always like this? I clutched my chest, but held my own emotions back. I sighed and looked back at the monster in front of me. 'Please let me speak to them,' I told her.

Without another word, I felt myself be teleported somewhere else, but not my physical body—perhaps my soul or just consciousness, but… I was in a strange place. But I saw them there. They seemed to be just as confused as I was. I ran towards them. I didn't know if I could still use magic or my Sacred Gear, but I didn't care. In the end, I reached out to my mother and hugged her from behind.

"L-Lavinia? Where are we? I thought we were fighting that monkey boy, a man with a sword, a vampire and 'I'm sorry' broom girl," said my mother.

Even though I felt tears threatening to spill from my eyes, I couldn't help but snicker at those nicknames she came up with for Vaa-kun's teammates. I felt my father's hand on my back as he asked me what was wrong.

I shook my head and told them what had happened and where we were.

"I see. So we're—it's all true then…I'm sorry my little Nia, we left you to fend for yourself at such a young age," my mother apologized and hugged me back.

"I didn't think our own relatives were so heartless. But I have to ask, why didn't you say anything about the dolls to us when we were still alive?" my dad asked.

"It didn't happen as frequently back then. I think your death amplified it and I kept seeing them more frequently until I finally asked about them, and that's when they started looking at me differently," I explained. I don't remember the exact time, but it was around six or seven years old, and then when my parents died, I started seeing them more and more often.

"We heard many things from that woman called Glenda. Apparently, she was the one who took you in for a few years?" my mom asked.

I nodded and told them what happened during that time, and then after she sent me away, me searching for her for many years, me meeting Tobio and the rest of the Slash/Dog team, finally the fight that helped me sever my ties with her. Though at the back of my mind I knew I was still hung up on her. If someone you thought of as a mother, told you those things at the time, it would definitely have an effect on you.

"I wanna punch her…!" my dad shouted and started punching the air in front of him causing me to laugh. But…

"…This may be the first time I agree with you about violence," added my mother who also started punching the air together with him. They eventually stopped and looked at me.

"But it seems you're having fun in your current life, aren't you? How about you tell us about after that time in your life?" said my dad.

I nodded and told him about the rest of my journey with the Slash/Dog Team. We all grew in power and as people during that time. Until just a year ago, when a mysterious person showed up claiming to be this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, he then quickly became the Middleman for the Three Factions, and then…

I didn't know how long I rambled on after meeting Aaron. I felt like I talked, and I talked, and talked about him, and by the time I finished and got to where we were today, I was out of breath and also crying. I didn't notice myself, but I was apparently crying while I spoke.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know I was crying," I apologized and wiped the tears from my eyes and cheek. It felt like I was crying more and more these days, for myself and for others. It was a strange feeling.

My mom hugged me again and said, "It sounds like the life you lived has been good, my adorable Nia. You found friends, and even a man who deeply loves you, he even let you speak to us a different version of us which was quite shocking to hear."

"No kidding! I'd like to talk to another version of me. I wonder if we'd get along?" my dad added, and then I heard my mother smack him in which I giggled too. "But he has a such a large harem, are you okay with that?" asked my dad.

"I am. His home is very lively because of it, and there's always endless fun in there. I wouldn't have it any other way…" I replied.

But it wasn't the full truth, because at times I did wonder…if we led normal lives, would we have met? And still fallen in love? Anytime I think about it, I feel a pit in my stomach forming—because it was an unknown future full of uncertainty. But with the one I have now, I can make calculated guesses and still be close to what the outcome might be, so…

At the same time, I didn't want to give this life up for something so uncertain.

"It looks like you know the answer to that, even if you have your doubts. How about we ask him then?" my dad asked and pointed behind me.

I was confused and turned around. When I did, I saw him. "A-Aaron? How did—" I shook my head and ran to him.

"Hey, I came to check on you. I'm still in a middle of a fight though," he said and laughed. "It's nice meeting you again—or should I say it's nice meeting you again for the first time," he corrected himself and we walked back over to my parents.

He shook both my parents' hands and then bowed, confusing me.

"Please give your daughter to me," he said and bowed even deeper. I felt my face turn red and hot. W-w-why is he asking them here and now…?! When I looked back at my parents they were also shocked.

My parents looked at Aaron, then at each other, then at me, back at Aaron and then… they burst into laughter. Aaron stopped bowing and looked at them while smiling… Why?! Why are they laughing and why are you smiling…?! Was I the only one confused here…?!

"It's a bit too late to be asking us, son. Didn't you ask our other selves for permission?" my dad asked and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Fufu, that's true. If you received permission from them, why do you need to ask us as well?" my mother asked.

"I thought it would be appropriate. I had already planned on asking you two, until Lavinia asked me to go back to your home, so… I decided to do that and now I wanted both versions' permission," he explained himself.

"I see." My dad nodded his head and looked at Aaron. He then cocked his arm back and punched him in the face!!

"D-daaaaaaaaaaaaaad?!" My heart pounded as I screamed, mortified by what he had just done. I looked back at Aaron who only smiled at him and took the punch.

"You have my permission and blessing," my dad said and stretched his body. "I was always prepared to say: 'Never! I'll never hand over my daughter to you!' or something along those lines. But seeing as how our Nia is that happy with you, I can't take that away from her," he explained.

My mom agreed with him and brushed Aaron's cheek, before smacking my dad again. "Don't hit our daughter's fiancé so hard!"

"I doubt he felt a thing! Heck, my fist is the one that's stinging right now, you know?!" My dad fired back and looked at his own fist and started to blow at it, as if it were on fire.

After a moment, my parents stopped their comedic charade and looked at us seriously, no... Aaron was doing the same thing as well. I knew it was coming, but I didn't like it, back then and even now…

"We have to leave, Nia," said my mother.

"Yeah. We merged with that thing and we probably can't come back out normally. So give your old man a good ol' punch and send us back into the afterlife," added my dad.

"B-but Aaron can—!"

"We know. But… it's better this way. Please live out your life, in whatever way you want—whatever you choose, just know that we'll be proud of whatever you do and achieve, okay?" said my mom as they began to fade away.

I ran over and hugged them one last time. I didn't notice, but I started ugly crying when I hugged them. I don't like goodbyes… every single one of them was never a good experience, but…

"Take care of her, Aaron. Otherwise, I'll come back and personally haunt you," my dad jokingly threatened him.

"I will, I can promise you that," Aaron replied.

I felt both of them kiss me on the head one last time before they faded away. Aaron came back to my side and he touched my shoulder.

"I'll be done soon and join you. Can you try to keep Glenda alive? She may have very valuable information, assuming she hasn't cleared her memory yet."

"Vaa-kun is keeping her busy… I can't promise you much on his end…" I replied.

He then chuckled. "Hmm. Well, Vali should probably know, fufu, the cute little brother followed his sister and brother to Italy, huh?" he asked and then forced me to face him. He then wiped the tears from my eyes and added, "Let's move forward and make that future your parents will be proud of."

"…Mmm."

He kissed me and then left. I looked around my surroundings and I finally understood where I was. It was my home. It had been mostly white when I first arrived here, but I think it started to change the longer we spent here and the more we reminisced.

"I'm heading out!" I shouted to my house, almost like they heard me, and as I also faded away, I heard my own parents' voice telling me, 'Take care'.

…

Third Person Point of View

…

Lavinia Reni pointed her hand towards the Ice Demon Zeroth and it froze. After that, the entirety of Italy, no, the world—no, some supernatural realms also began to stop much to their confusion.

"Snow?" asked Bikou. They all turned to the direction of the Ice Princess as they suspected her to be the cause.

In their immediate area, the temperature suddenly dropped to near absolute zero. The ones that weren't prepared began to shiver violently.

"W-w-w-w-what the heck?! Why is it so c-c-c-cold?!" Bikou asked in horror. "L-L-L-Le F-F-Fay! W-w-w-why aren't you freezing?!"

"M-my clothes are enchanted by Jin-san so I wouldn't feel any changes when temperatures changes…" she explained herself. She then created a large fireball around them and everyone in her team gathered around it.

"Tch. Why is she doing this…?" asked Glenda as she dodged another attack from the angry Lucifer. Glenda had taken some damage as Vali had relentlessly pursued her.

"Shut your mouth, woman. Focus on me, otherwise you die!" shouted Vali as he used another [Divide] on Glenda who grimaced and glared at the young Lucifer.

"Goodbye, mom, dad," muttered Lavinia as enormous ice spikes began jutting out of Zeroth's body. The monster roared in pain as it had been pierced.

Lavinia had frozen its blood and then changed its shape and instantly expanded it. The shape she changed it into was a large and sharp spike. Lavinia then repeated this several times more before the monster fell to the ground dead. To finish it off fully, Lavinia created a large ball of pure magical power and fired it at Zeroth, obliterating it.

"Argh!" A pained cry echoed throughout the area which caused everyone to turn in that direction. What they saw was Glenda missing her left arm and right eye. Vali had a smug look on him as he threw Glenda's arm away.

The young Lucifer put his arm out and used another [Divide] halving her power even more. Glenda then flew away, higher into the sky as she glared at all of them—but she then smiled at them, confusing them.

"That's more than long enough, don't you think?" she asked calmly. Even though she lost an arm and an eye, she still maintained her usual dignified self.

"Big words coming from a hag missing an arm and eye," pointed out Bikou as he arrived beside his leader.

Glenda smirked at Bikou and flew higher. They weren't sure what she was up to, but—

"No you don't!" shouted Vali as he fired another demonic ball at her. However, it was surprisingly absorbed by the magic circle that she created.

Once she got to a certain altitude, she stood up on her broom. Lavinia finally arrived beside Vali and—

"Lavinia!" Suzaku's voice rang out.

"Suzaku, why are you here? Weren't you…?"

"We finished. I'm sorry I was late. I was delayed by helping move some people. I sensed you were powering up, so…" she explained herself.

"No, it's fine. Everything went well, we just need to…" she stopped and looked at Glenda.

"Fufu. Nealuchi and Atsutarou Himejima failed, huh? Well, it doesn't matter, everything is ready!" she shouted and an enormous magic circle that covered half the human world appeared in the sky.

"What the—don't tell me that psycho is going to attack the earth itself?!" shouted Bikou. However, what shocked them all was that some kind of appendage came out of the magic circle. The thing beyond it pulled itself through and—

"W-what the hell is that?" the monkey youkai asked again.

The thing had three heads. The left head was the head of a snake, the middle was a dragon and the right was a lion. The body was very large and had millions of tentacles wriggling all around. It had two large wings. The left was that of an eagle, and the right was of a dragon. It also had multiple tails, each having its own head that spat out different elements. It had four limbs with razor sharp claws and finally a large eye on its chest which was intensely looking down at the earth.

Its body glowed in an intense red and green color. Additionally, its body was constantly spraying deadly poisons. As they were about to move, another figure appeared beside Vali.

"Cúntóir?!" both Lavinia and Suzaku exclaimed in surprise.

"Hello. I have finished analyzing the poison and created a cure. Please bring all that were affected to me, I will be over there," she said and pointed to a small building. "I will make a barrier to protect those who were affected by it… Vali Lucifer and his team, I will leave that thing to you for the time being. Jin will arrive in a few minutes," she told them.

"Nevertheless, don't get too close to it, otherwise you will be affected. It's also as powerful as a Dragon God, so please keep that in mind," she added and turned away before flying towards the building.

"So we're the starting act, huh? Heh, fine by me! I can test how strong I am with that thing!" shouted Vali and started to gather a large amount of energy.

Glenda had disappeared and she was floating just below the monster she had summoned. She then created a magic circle that appeared in all of the realms in the supernatural world.

[As a result of our collaboration with the Phantasma, we were able to capture this thing. We then modified it to our liking, fufu, we started calling it Trihexa the Second~ though its destructive capabilities are still unknown. Ah, its name is Vhapu~! Buuut~ it's goodbye for now, my fellow witches~!] she shouted and turned herself into a small ball before it entered the giant beast.

After Glenda disappeared, a small body began to form above the eye, and a woman's face then appeared…that woman was Glenda. She winked at everyone and blew a kiss. She then smiled, raised her arm up which had been healed and an even larger magic circle than the beast appeared above it.

[Let's try blowing up the world, shall we~?] she asked in an echo that was heard all over the world.

"Oi, what the hell do we do? Can we even kill that thing…?!" asked Bikou.

Vali looked around him, both Suzaku Himejima and Lavinia Reni had left. They entrusted him and his team to delay this until his brother arrived, and he would do just that.

"Well, that woman said to delay it until Aniki arrived, so we'll do that. Use everything you got, and don't die—if you do, I'll kill you myself!" he told them and flew towards the monster called Vhapu. He then fired his charged attack at it.

A large black and silver ball left his hand and flew towards the beast. The ball's size compared to the attack Vali sent was like night and day. Vali's attack was like an ant while the Vhapu was like an elephant. The attack hit Vhapu, but to no one's surprise it did nothing. When that happened, Glenda who had merged with the beast began to laugh manically.

[Did you really think that would work? My, you sure are dense, young Lucidrago-kun~]

"Heh, I didn't expect that to harm it at all," replied Vali and he looked at his team's attack that were sent at it, but they also did nothing. 'I don't like getting help from others, but…where the hell are you, Aniki?!'

…